Erin Brockovich, a well-known environmental advocate, is adding her voice to the growing chorus of those calling for answers after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio earlier in February.
Thirty-eight cars on the 151-car train derailed, including several cars containing chemicals like vinyl chloride. Eventually, the decision was made to evacuate people within a two-mile radius and do a controlled release and burn of the vinyl chloride. Since then, residents of the small town of East Palestine have reported ailments like burning throats, skin rashes and bronchitis.
Officials including the Environmental Protection Agency have said they have not recorded harmful levels of chemicals in the air, and local and state leaders have said the town’s water supply is safe to drink from, there have been reports of up to 43,700 area animals dying. Norfolk Southern has also removed 15,000 pounds of contaminated soil and over one million gallons of water.
FILE – A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
Brockovich addressed residents of East Palestine at a town hall on Friday night, saying that she had seen “the same runaround” in “every community” she had gone to since making national headlines in the 1990s for suing a utility provider for contaminating her California town’s drinking water.
Brockovich told CBS News that she understands the fear and frustration of East Palestine residents.
“They’re worried, because they’ve got coughs and respiratory problems,” she said. “There’s so many unanswered questions, and they know this isn’t the last of this conversation.”
Brockovich added that she would advise residents to “stay tuned” to themselves and their environment.
This isn’t the first time Brockovich has addressed the situation in Ohio. On Feb. 17, two weeks after the derailment, she questioned the decision to allow residents to return home so soon, reading a Feb. 10 letter from the EPA to Norfolk Southern that said chemicals were “known to have been or continue to be released to the air, surface soils and surface water.”
Evacuated East Palestine residents were told it was safe to return home on Feb. 8.
“There is so much confusion … Reading something like this, I will tell you I would certainly feel uncomfortable and not safe,” Brockovich said on CBS News.
Activist Erin Brockovich warns of continued health risks from East Palestine train derailment
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